Homeschool Space

So our second unit study this year was space.
Parker immediately fell in love with all things Space.
We were actually still technically studying art (which the kids didn't like much) when I checked out about 70 space books from the library.
Parker picked up one book, was mesmerized by the information he found and never stopped learning. So we started the unit early and continued it over a month longer than 'planned' (Big perk of homeschooling:  tailoring to my kids interests!)

We were meant to move on to learning about the Earth next and we have, because Parker thinks "it's okay to learn about the earth, because it's part of space"

And Parker's knowledge of space facts would astound you! He knows what kind of galaxy we live in, what stars are closest to us (after the sun). He can name the planets in order (and in size order) and the dwarf planets, the history and order which the planets and dwarf planets were discovered. Length of each planets day and year and number of moons. Also any distinctive facts about the planet...for example: "Mars has Ice poles and an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and iron rich soil with a diameter a little bigger than Mercury"... Yes he really uses words like iron-rich and atmosphere and diameter. He's such crazy smart kid!

Inspired by our study of space we had field trips to Meteor Crater and Lowell Observatory

Many of his Christmas/Birthday presents were related to space and his entire birthday party was space-themed

A few pictures from our time learning about space:

Playing a space game on the computer, where he gets to make his own planet

I got a big refrigerator box from Lowes, drilled holes in the top and shoved Christmas lights into the holes to make 'stars'

Reading a book (about Saturn) in the star cave

"Napping" (they did not sleep)

Parker didn't wanted to have stars and no planets, so he made the solar system and taped it on the box:

Parker used a bunch of balls to make the solar system outside. The big one is the sun and then he has balls in relative sizes (the smallest ball for Mercury, largest for Jupiter, etc) for the planets around the sun.

Similar scenes happened in our loft pretty often.

Using my music stand and a formerly neglected space shuttle toy to make landings and take-offs.

And then the music stand became Cassini-Huygens.

Yes, I'm sure you didn't know that Cassini-Huygens was the name of the spacecraft sent to orbit Saturn and it's moons, but my 4 year old did!

Some more incredibly smart/adorable quotes from Parker about space:

"Mom, I think Mercury and Jupiter must not have seasons, because their axis' are like this" (putting his arms straight up and down vertically). It actually took me a second to realize he was right. If there is no tilt to the axis, then there are no seasons.

"I think if we lived on the sun we would not need a calendar" I thought he was being silly, but realized he was a genius when he explained that it would always be day and there is no year because it's not rotating around a star.

Pretending to be the Universe (Yes he was really pretending that he was the universe, as in... the whole entire universe) He said it was really hard to move around because "Whoa, I'm everything."

For a long time he would call me different planets, but not by name, by distinctive characteristics of a planet. For example:
Parker: I'm hungry you ten hour planet!
Mom: Did you just call me Jupiter, you fastest planet? (Jupiter's day is about 10 hours long)
Parker Yes! Did you just call me Mercury, you planet closest to us?
and on, and on, and on... this sometimes went on for 30 minutes at a time.

We started talking about how much we love each other in terms of space. I love you more than Jupiter's diameter, and I love you more than the time it takes Neptune to revolve around the sun!
And his primary teacher said they were talking about how much God and Jesus love the kids and Parker said "Yes, Jesus loves us more than the time that Neptune goes around the sun!" So Funny!